IRVINE, Calif. – After a short break, the UC Irvine men's tennis team is back in action this week as it heads to Los Angeles for the LMU Invitational, Nov. 8-10.

UCI is part of a four-team field that also includes Utah, Utah State and host Loyola Marymount. The Anteaters will square off against each team with six individual singles and three doubles matches per day.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 8
9 a.m. - UCI vs. Utah (Singles)
12 p.m. - UCI vs. Utah State (Doubles)

Saturday, Nov. 9
12 p.m. - UCI vs. LMU (Doubles)
               UCI vs. Utah State (Singles) - will follow doubles

Sunday, Nov. 10
12 p.m. - UCI vs. Utah (Doubles)
               UCI vs. LMU (Singles) - will follow doubles
 
QUICK HITS
• UCI had a great week at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships (Oct. 17-20), collecting a total of 16 singles and two doubles wins.
• Six 'Eaters made it to the singles Round of 64 and two duos advanced to the doubles Round of 64.
• Junior Mateusz Smolicki led the way as he won the singles consolation championship.
• Smolicki went 5-1 in the tournament and improved his overall fall record to 8-2.
• UCI returns six letterwinners from a 2018-19 squad that went 15-8.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing and Daniel Gealer are the Anteaters' only seniors on this year's 10-man roster.
• Head coach Mike Saunders is in his fifth season at the helm and has a 57-44 career record.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine competed well at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in Malibu. Six out of the nine players defeated tough opponents and advanced to the Round of 64 in singles. Mateusz Smolicki had a tremendous performance as he won the back draw, defeating LMU's Ethan Prost 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 10-7 in the consolation final. The rest of the 'Eaters also had solid performances at the tournament. Mark Peneff, Ali Amiri, Jeremy Merville and Mike Mkrtchian each collected two singles wins.
 
In doubles action, Amiri and Aaron Bailey defeated their first-round opponent from Hawai'i, 8-7 (6). The duo improved to 4-1 on the season after winning their flight at the Aztec Fall Invitational earlier in October. Bruce Man-Son-Hing and Smolicki also earned their first doubles win together, dismantling Leo Andreolli/Maxim Kirsch of Grand Canyon, 8-1.
 
2018-19 HIGHLIGHTS
Mateusz Smolicki garnered 2019 All-Big West honorable mention recognition in both singles and doubles. He played primarily at the No. 3 singles position, finishing with 12 wins, seven of which came over his last 10 matches.
 
Bruce Man-Son-Hing is a two-time all-conference doubles selection, earning first-team honors in 2018 and second-team accolades in 2019. He had 18 overall doubles wins and went 15-4 during the dual-match season last year.
 
Daniel Gealer is coming off a junior campaign in which he registered a team-high 20 overall singles wins (14-6 dual).
 
UC Irvine was named a 2018-19 ITA All-Academic Team, while leading the Big West with six individual Scholar-Athlete recipients.
 
MEET THE NEWCOMERS
UC Irvine welcomes four newcomers with two freshmen and two transfers. Jeremy Merville joins the Anteaters after spending two years at Nevada. As a freshman in 2017-18, he entered the Wolf Pack's all-time top-10 in both singles (22) and doubles (14) victories.
 
Sophomore Mark Peneff played one year at Glendale Community College where he was the Western State Conference singles champion and doubles runner-up.
 
Freshmen Ali Amiri and Matthew Sah are both four-star recruits from Southern California. Amiri is a local product out of Irvine. Sah, a San Diego native, was a CIF state champion in doubles.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
For the sixth year in a row, UCI's roster features multiple international players. Antoine Barthe and Jeremy Merville are natives of France, while Mateusz Smolicki hails from Poland.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will have a few months off before opening its 2020 dual-match season at San Francisco on Feb. 7.